Idahospud

We've just taken the trip back to reality after spending a glorious 16 days in Costa Rica. To break up our travels, the first report will be the Guanacaste area.
Wow was it hot when we arrive! Had to be at least 100. Our first weeks stay was spent at Playa Hermosa at Condovac la Costa which is a timeshare condo. We were happy with our condo even though only the bedroom had A/C. Before our vacation we had read reports of people complaining about not having any hot water. Made us wonder what was wrong with those people. Cold showers felt great however we did have hot water.
At first we weren't sure there was enough to do for a whole week but that was an unfounded concern. The Guanacaste area has much to offer. We visited the beaches from Playa Hermosa to Playa Grande. We rented a car from TriColor and so glad we did. The roads were a pleasant surprise after expecting the worst. The trip from SJO to Playa Hermosa was quite smooth. We had an hour wait for construction but got to our resort in about 4 hrs. There are tons of fruit stands all along the way. Being a fruit lover, I wanted to stop at each but my companions kept full speed ahead. It is most interesting to see cars pass on hills, curves & when there is no visibility. I think they are trained Kamikazees.
Beach report:
Our favorite was probably Sugar Beach. It has a nice hotel & restaurant. We hung out there, had a good meal & thought of staying there sometime. The roads there made you believe you were in a demolition derby.
Portrero had a great place to have a beverage & kick back (Bahia Del Sol).
The search for Playa Conchal was something out of Lost. We were given directions to go to Brasilito & turn left past Outback Jack's (good restaurant by the way) & follow the road. Well there is no road so we pulled over to see where we went wrong when a couple cars past us so we decided to play follow the leader. After driving on the beach & then seeing a steep red road, we went up & over mighty boulders (hoping no one was coming from the other direction). To our surprise there was a nice beach. It was the best snorkeling beach of all of them. Having water nearby is a good thing. It was another toasty day & the ocean was a good reprieve.
Playa Ocotal was a fun outing. Father Roosters is there. Great restaurant with a special drink called Tico Linda that left us feeling happy, happy, happy!
At Playa Hermosa we took a scuba diving trip with Dive Safari. I really wanted to go to the Murcelagos to dive but they said you had to do a local dive first. It was not a great diving experience so I wouldn't reccommend diving there. The water was choppy & visibility wasn't great. We did see 3 rays & a sunken ship so was worthwhile but after going to Manuel Antonio we had wished we had waited to dive there. The water was so warm & much clearer. Our friends went out on the dive boat with us to snorkel and had a horrible time. There was too much current near the rocks which made it very dangerous & out deeper there were no fish to see.
We saw howler monkeys in trees near our infinity pool at the condo as well as birds & coati. Later I will tell about Rincon.

sparklegem

Thank you for posting the first part of your trip report. I like your positive and upbeat tone. It is nice to hear of the travels of a person who looks on the bright side.

shillmac

One of our favorite areas--always will be. Thanks for posting! Glad you guys had a great time.

Idahospud

Good to hear from you Shillmac. I need to tell you how helpful you were (along with others) on planning the trip. I felt like I knew the place when we arrived. I got interrupted by that thing called work so will try to finish the next portion on our trip:
Rincon de la Vieja-Our first trip there was to Buena Vista Lodge area where they have the combo tour. I think it would be a very fun tour for people with kids but my crew decided it was a bit touristy so off we took on our own Indiana Jones adventure. We opted for the Santa Maria Ranger Station which was pretty much a puzzle in just finding the road to find the beginning of the trail. It's a white volcanic road which is very bright. We drove for miles, never seeing another car but eventually we arrived at the ranger station. We got a great treat by seeing over 50 whitefaced monkeys swinging from branch to branch. Also saw lizards, iguanas & lots of birds. We took a hike through beautiful forest to a waterfall, crossing streams on the way. There were various other hikes but ran out of time. What a treat to have the forest all to ourselves along with monkeys.
The next day we opted to take the normal route that most people take to Rincon. We stopped at a nice hotel & hired a guide for $25 for 4 of us. Rene was a 65 yr old & didn't speak any English & we speak only a little Spanish but we did fine. Rene believed that by putting his face about an inch from mine & talking loud I would get it & most of the time I did. We took off on a 4 mile hike through such a variety of vegetation. At places we thought we were in Africa. It was hot as blazes! The waterfall was just gorgeous and the swim under it was so refreshing. We saw more monkeys there. Good hike!
My Bug Review:
Can't finish this without addressing bugs. The friends who traveled with us had major bug phobia so will share her tips concerning the subject. She went online to MUMZ & ordered all of the Buzz Off clothing one can get--long zip off pants, tshirts, long sleeve blouse, socks, hat with the flap and was afraid to ask her about her underwear. When she zipped off the bottoms of her pants, there were knee socks. We love to take "mutant" shots & she was a good subject. Not sure it helped but she was a believer & it provided us with good laughs. We never found insects to be much of a problem.
Next report: Arenal

ninasdream

thank you for sharing. I haven't been to CR yet and am enjoying your report (and the bug review). Glad you had a good trip.

Idahospud

I'll wrap up our week at the Guanacaste region with our highlights:
Our favorite restaurant was Gingers-great tapas. Enjoyed eating at Sugar Beach hotel & Father Roosters.
Our favorite outing: Rincon de la Vieja. Loved the monkeys, waterfall & solitude of the jungle.
Favorite beach: Playa Conchal for snorkeling.
From there we went to Arenal for 4 nights. WE spent 2 nights at Arenal Paraiso & 2 nights at Arenal Springs. WE loved Paraiso for its gardens, great views of the volcano, hot springs & great breakfasts. Our rooms were comfy with one exception of too noisy A/C & the porches with the glass got a bit hot. But loved those rocking chairs! We saw no need to try out the other hot springs since ours were free & 9 of them. We did the ziplines there & had a great time with the exception of my husband smacking into the tree. It was raining very hard & the lines get faster in the rain. I got to hang upside down on the last run (not bad for a gramma). Arenal Springs was very nice, newer & a quiet A/C. Their bathrooms are really nice. Our view was about the same but missed the hot springs & the lush gardens. Food was good there. We loved every moment of Arenal from the lake, German bakery, Austrian village, hanging bridge tour, Cano Negro and especially Choza de Laurel in La Fortuna. We loved that restaurant. They were friendly, had wonderful food & great presentation. It's a treat to just watch them make drinks. Definitely hire a guide. Anna was ours for the hanging bridges & we spent 4 hours & saw all kind of birds, boa constrictor, eyelash green viper, etc. We passed people who went on their own & they saw nothing. We could spend a month in Arenal & never be bored. It's just beautiful!
I am about done-honest. Next report will be Manuel Antonio.

Idahospud

The last part of our journey took us to Manuel Antonio. The countryside is remarkable. We hit a detour just outside of La Fortuna where is bridge is out so spent a bit of time trying to find the detour route. Road signs are a mystery there. It's like going on a treasure hunt just finding road signs, detour signs and even towns. We found it useful to look behind us when we would spot any road signs & usually found our route in the opposite direction. We discovered towns would post their names on the little blue telephone signs. By the time we get to Quepos there is another detour which is another fine dirt path that makes you wonder if someone is pulling a trick on you. Quepos wasn't much to miss. We headed to our hotel, Costa Verde & were so pleased to find another piece of heaven. The reception is designed of wood with a great open air restaurant next to it. The walk to our room was through lush greenery with an occasional iguana to shoe out of the way. The rooms are huge with ceiling fans, 2 beds but more importantly is the 30 ft long veranda with 4 rocking chairs. The view was something out of Paradise Lost. There is a very nice pool with little restaurant/bar and then the magnificent ocean of turquoise. It was hard to leave to go anywhere else. We went to Manuel Antonio Park & hired a very nice guide. It was hot as blazes & though we saw sloths, a few monkeys, frogs, birds, etc, I would have to say of all places we went it would be the most disappointing. We expected to see tons of monkeys there but saw more on the rest of our trip. It also is more touristy than any of the other places we went which takes some of the fun out of it. We did do a fun sunset cruise on the Pink Panther which was great. We got to go snorkeling where the water was so warm & there were alot of fish. The food & the beverages were good & well worth the $69. We also ate at El Avion which was marginal but interesting. Great sunset view!
Our final stop was at Vista de Valle. What a wonderful place. We had a thatched roof bure in a very tropical setting (Mona Lisa & Ilan Ilan). The great thing was calling them to see how to get there after dropping our car off at Tricolor since we had a very early flight. They suggested Tricolor would pick it up there for no extra cost. And they did & did it so cheerful. I totally reccommend Tricolor. We paid $676 for 16 days & that included all insurance & no hidden costs. What service! Our last meal there was the best of our trip. Our only regret is that we had such a short time there.
The only things we took that we could have done without were a light fleece & longpants were overrated. We also took $50 in $1 bills which came in very useful. Our clothes were all drip dry which we found very reasonable at Sierra Trading Post. Most things dried within 10 minutes.
Costa Rica is right up there for the top honors for travels (Fiji may still be first). But for adventure, exciting times in the jungle, the sights & sounds, I'm already planning my next trip!

cmerrell

Hi Idahospud,

What a fun read! Glad you had a good trip. I absolutely loved CR last year on my first visit, and am heading back again later this year. Its quite the addictive place!

Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!

shillmac

So true! I figure that out of all the possible addictions, Costa Rica isn't so bad!

Idahospud, thanks for your kind words. Very gratifying to know that my experiences were helpful to you. And yours to me!

For example, we were in the Rincon for the first time 5 years ago, visited there briefly for hiking last summer (but didn't get to stay long as I was really sick that day with some kind of short term virus that made me very weak). So this summer we have budgeted 2 nights there--just for soaking up the beauty and enjoying some downtime "out in the country". Your review confirmed that we made the right decision this time around!

Agree about Ginger--isn't the food fab there? We loved ordering about 6 things and just sharing little bits of this and that. . .

And agree about Tricolor. What prices! And yes, such excellent service. They have been so good to us time after time. . .

So glad you had a good time. Next time try visiting Guanacaste in the rainy season. It doesn't rain much up there, but boy is it green and lush! We've visited Condo Vac before--pretty nice place. What were the rooms like? In fact, I can remember taking a meringue lesson in the fitness center with a friend who worked there. Just one of so many happy memories!

Thanks for a fun report!

Idahospud

Hi Shillmac! In response to your question, Condovac la Costa was a nice place to stay. The rooms need a bit of upgrading but the PR man came around & said they were in the process of building more units & improving the ones they had. The people at the resort were very pleasant & the food there was pretty good. The view was great. It is located on a very steep hill which was a great glute workout. It's not for the weak of heart. The walk down to the ocean isn't so bad but the climb up makes one sing the theme song to Rocky. They do provide a tram which is so nice. Their pool is wonderful & they have ?

Idahospud

Woops! Don't know what happened to my last comments. It's suppose to read that the pool in wonderful & they have live entertainment most evenings however a bit loud.
Next trip we hope to spend a month in the Osa Peninsula area. Know any short term rentals? Or maybe we should consider 2 wks there & 2 wks in Panama.